Software we use

SInce one of goals is longevity and access for all high school students in the Sarasota area, we try to standardize on using open source software that is available to everyone without cost and can run on the three major platforms (WIndows, MacOS, Linux).  We do this to avoid getting locked into annual costs or subscriptions. 

• Audio Recording & Editing: Audacity a powerful and easy to use program working with audio.
• CAD: Autodesk Fusion 360  & FreeCad - Fusion is an exception, it is not open source, but we use it because many of our designers get certified in it through school and get a free license from Sarasota County School District.  We also use FreeCad because it has better free extensions for things like making timing belt gears.
• Code Editing: VS Code - an incredibly powerful IDE for working on code.
• Drawing: Inkscape - a robust vector drawing tool.
• Page Layout: Inkscape - a works well as a  page layout tool.
• Photo Image Editor: GIMP - the leader in open source image processing.
• Presentations / Slides: Google Slides - supports concurrent editing and all platforms including mobile
• Spreadsheet: Google Sheets - works great for concurrent editing.
• Storage: We store all our work in a Google Drive.
• Video Production: Openshot - an easy to use video editor
• Website: Drupal - an amazingly powerful and flexible web platform that we use for this site and contribute back to. We also open source our own site so that any team may reproduce the power of our website,
• Word Processing: Google Docs - a great word-processor that offers seamless concurrent editing.